Teacher Teleworking during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Association between Work Hours, Work–Family Balance and Quality of Life

Abstract

Background: Teachers worldwide had to reinvent their work routine according to teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic, a work format that negatively impacts individuals’ physical and mental health. This study evaluates the association between work hours, work–family balance and quality of life (QoL) among teachers during the Chilean health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers from across Chile were contacted via email and social media to answer an online survey. QoL was evaluated via the SF-36 questionnaire, work hours and work–family balance in the pandemic. A total of 336 teachers from across Chile participated in this study. Teachers had a low QoL score, associated with age (p < 0.05). Teachers who were ≤44 showed lower deterioration risks in the Physical Component Summary (OR: 0.54) than the ≥45-year-old age group; simultaneously, the younger group (≤44 years) had a greater risk (OR: 2.46) of deterioration in the Mental Component Summary than teachers over 45 years. A total of 78.7% of teachers reported having increased their work hours during the COVID-19 pandemic due to teleworking and 86% indicated negative effects on their work–family balance. Pandemic work hours and negative work–family balance increase the risk of reducing the Mental Component Summary (OR: 1.902; OR: 3.996, respectively). Teachers presented low median QoL scores, especially in the Mental Component Summary, suggesting that it would be beneficial to promote a better workload distribution for teachers in emergency contexts, considering the adverse effects of teleworking.

Burnout: A Review of Theory and Measurement

“…These are also hard times for workers in general. Teleworking full-time due to COVID-19 has received the attention of several empirical works, which analyze job exhaustion and burnout [14][15][16][17]. Teacher burnout is also the focus of an increasing number of studies [18][19][20][21].…”

Association between Emotional Exhaustion and Tobacco Consumption in Teachers

“…In this sense, teachers’ working conditions need to be reviewed, and it was already known that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the working conditions of teachers were stressful with little time for personal and family life with a substantial impact on their mental health. During the pandemic, the health of teachers worsened even more [ 38 , 61 , 62 ]. Therefore, it is essential to implement strategies to help teachers improve their physical and psychological health from teacher training, the first years in the profession, and develop vigilance throughout their working life.…”

The Association of Job and Family Resources and Demands with Life Satisfaction through Work–Family Balance: A Longitudinal Study among Italian Schoolteachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This change in their work setting has led to heightened overload and work stress, mainly due to unsuitable work conditions, organizational factors within the family (e.g., working times, learning times of children, working times of cohabitants, and working times of other family members, etc. ), and the need to re-plan and re-organize work and family activities [30,31].…”